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Carver A-760x Amplifier

needforspeed

needforspeed

AKA, The Treblemaker
Subscriber
A choice was made to change things up in my rig for 08, And the choice was, "Different Amps". Though very happy with my Hafler gear for the last few years, Felt a need to change, As long as power and performance did'nt suffer. A local pawn shop is one of my shopping stops from time to time, And I left standing orders with the owner to call me when certain gear would show up. The very day I posted my Hafler stuff, The guy calls and says there is this Carver amp available. Asking price, $250. Having seen and heard a TFM 45 perform, I jumped on it, Before he realized what he had. The A-760x is the improved model of the insanely powerful TFM55 (380wpc into 8 ohms). The amp is class H. Testing the Amp with a friends pair of Infinity Reference Studio Monitors, And my own pair of HPM 100's, The Amp presented itself very well. Tight and detailed, excellent sound stage and imaging, and very low noise (hum). I measured very high SPL readings (As much as we could stand!), And the amp continued to produce very clean sound. Midrange and bass were the improvements over my XL 600. Now on the look out for a pair of it's smaller brothers, Twin TFM 25's ought to do it! Here are some numbers;
Two channel power amplifier; THX Certified; 380 watts rms/ch into 8 Ohms, both channels driven, 20 Hz - 20 kHz; 600 watts rms/ch into 4 Ohms; 1,150 watts/ch into 2 Ohms - IHF dynamic power; Bridgeable mono power 1,200 watts into 8 Ohms; Frequency response 20 Hz - 20 kHz + 0 - 0.2 dB; Input impedance 47 kOhms; Damping factor 150; Sensitivity 1.0V rms for 100 w/ch output into 8 Ohms; THD 0.08%; S/N 119 dB;

Tested with;
PreAmp- Sherbourne Pre/Pro
CDP- Pioneer Elite Dv59-AVi
Interconnects-Canare/Wire 10G Belken Silver
Speakers- Infinity Reference Studio Monitors/Pioneer HPM 100

Metallica- Black LP
Santana- Greatest Hits
Various Classical Mix
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers- Damn The Torpedos
 
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Hell, I'd just like to find a TFM-45 or 55 to go with my pre/pro and CD player to match. Nice find!
 
After some research, I see why these amps (or the tfm55) are used in bridged mono to power ribbon panel speakers, Like Carvers own, Or Apogee etc. Just huge power in a package under 45lbs. Another nice feature is separate volume (not gain), For each channel, Nice for some fine tuning for room set up.
 
Hi,

The Carver is light weight due to a light weight power supply. They use a lot of clever shortcuts to obtain that wattage. The McIntosh is engineered to much more conservative standards since anything else isn't McIntosh. McIntosh transformers and PS components are rated for more than they are advertised for. And built like a Brick Outhouse! Quality like that is a lot of weight to heft and is made to be handed down through generations.
 
rektek said:
why is a 250w carver amp 35lbs and a Mcintosh 250w amp 112 lbs ?
what gives ?
Click to expand...
Huge toroidal power supply transformers, massive heat sinks, and thick faceplates make for a lot of weight. The Carver uses a 'trick' power-supply to get away with a smaller transformer, at the expense of ultimate current output capability. The heatsinks are a lot smaller, too.
 
I have a TFM-55 and it has never stumbled, no matter what I have put it through. Hasn't been run "hard" much for awhile now, since it has been powering my Klipsch Chorus I's, which are extremely efficient. 5 - 10 watt peaks are pretty damn loud with the Klipsch's!

Also have a AV-405 from Carver, it's 5 channels, but I am thinking of just using it for 2 channel soon.
 
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